


Adopt-a-Heart

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24003850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: It wasn't as if he hadn't already intended to fall in love that day. Just...maybe not like this.
Relationships: Senju Hashirama/Uchiha Izuna
Comments: 20
Kudos: 86





	Adopt-a-Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 of the Naruto Rare Pair Week.
> 
> Prompt: "meet cute"

If he were completely honest Izuna didn’t actually want a dog. What he wanted was a cat – an entire house full of cats – but his ancient landlord was allergic to cat dander and he wasn’t really looking to get kicked out of another apartment. Finding housing in this city had gotten a little insane over the years. It wasn’t as though he didn’t like dogs, though, so with a longing glance towards the wall of cages filled with tiny inquiring faces Izuna turned down the hallway to where the dogs were kept. 

Visiting the local shelter was always a gamble. One never knew what sort of animals had been abandoned or surrendered, what state they would be in, what abuses they might have suffered. Izuna clenched his fists inside his pockets to brace himself and took a deep breath before pushing the door inwards with one of his feet. He knew the sort of sad and lonely faces that would probably be staring back at him until he found a new companion for himself. He knew he couldn’t afford to take all of them home.

He wanted to though. 

In general Izuna considered himself to be a man of great strength. Perhaps not physically but he had excellent self-control and when absolutely necessary he could exhibit incredible patience. Never had his strengths been so tested as this moment walking past cage after cage with doleful eyes staring up at him in the hopes of finding a home in his arms. If only he had the space and money to take every single one of these poor creatures with him, he would have in a heartbeat. 

The apartment he lived in wasn’t suited for a large dog, however, and he knew if he got a small dog his brother was likely to terrify the poor thing in to a tiny heart attack. Madara was even more of a cat person than Izuna himself. With sorrow in his heart he slinked past a little teacup poodle someone had probably bought because it was cute and then abandoned after realizing that even small dogs required lots of work. Then he clutched his chest and hurried past a Great Dane he desperately wished he had a massive yard for. 

When he first stopped it was to peer through the bars at an Airedale who looked in need of a good grooming. Their neighbors growing up had owned two Airedales and he’d always loved their funny faces. Izuna stepped closer – and then scurried back when the animal burst in to motion, snapping and snarling in a raging frenzy. All animals deserved love but this one didn’t seem to have the right disposition for him. 

He wandered along and stopped again to peer in at a Malamute who stared back calmly, head cocked to one side with curiosity. When he shuffled forward this time there were no sudden reactions and it brought a smile to his face, a little more hopeful than he had been a moment ago. Despite knowing better Izuna still slipped a couple of fingers through to give the pup something to sniff. Small cooing noises whispered from his lips but he was disappointed when all it earned him was a sneeze before the dog laid its head down and looked away. Either he didn’t smell interesting enough or this was an animal jaded from too many opportunities offered and taken away. Or maybe the thing was just tired. Who was he to say?

Eyes lingering on the pretty beast he could have happily kept as a companion, Izuna stood up and made a mental note to come back here and try again to win this heart in case there was no one else who caught his interest. A maudlin sigh escaped him as he turned to walk away without taking his eyes off the Malamute. 

Which turned out to be the best mistake of his entire life. Izuna grunted in a sort of breathless way when he crashed headlong in to a solid wall that somehow managed to be both soft and hard at the same time. Something rumbled above his head, something else began to snuffle near his feet, and it took several seconds for all this information to sort itself out as he wavered back and forth dizzily from the impact. Bringing one hand up to rub at the neck muscles which had not appreciated a sudden stop at that angle, Izuna finally cracked his eyes open to see what he’d run in to. 

Then he craned his head back with his eyes rapidly widening as he took in the absolute mountain of a man currently trying to apologize to him. Which was, apparently, the rumbling sound he’d been hearing. 

“Are you alright?” the man was asking with a mildly frantic expression. “I should have been looking where I was going! Oh gosh, I didn’t mean to, I was just distracted with the- I like dogs! That isn’t to say I don’t like people – I love people – I certainly didn’t mean to run over you like that!” 

Izuna continued to stand and just stare as the man rambled on. Eventually he was able to tear his gaze away from the gorgeous face, travel down that gorgeous body, and spy a cheerful little cloud of white peering back up at him. While the pup – Uzushio Eskimo if he was right – wasn’t exactly small, it looked tiny standing next to this human tree. Izuna had the sudden visceral thought that he would give his very last dollar to climb that man like a squirrel. His thoughts were predictably followed by a wild blush. 

“No, I’m fine,” he managed to choke out eventually. “I like your dog.”

“Oh he’s not mine. I volunteer here!” The declaration was made with so much pride that Izuna’s heart very nearly melted in his chest. Gorgeous, tall, kind, and an animal lover. He certainly was ticking off quite a lot of boxes. 

“So he’s…he’s up for adoption then? Because I was looking for a new partner. Pet! I mean, er, I was looking for a new pet. To take home and stuff?” 

Resisting the urge to smack himself in the face for slipping like that was difficult but he managed. Watching an incredible smile blossom across the tree man’s face helped quite a bit, he could admit that easily. Izuna thought to himself that he would probably do many things for that smile. Most of them illegal. He whined quietly to himself when the man leaned forward right in to his personal space where he could inspect velvet brown eyes from up close. 

“Would you like to spend some time getting to know him? He’s such a good boy!”

“Ah, would you be there too?” The question slipped out entirely without his permission and Izuna cringed inside to sound so needy. 

“Oh, are you afraid of dogs?” Eyes wide and entirely sincere, the man took a firmer grip on the leash in his hands. “If you’re afraid of dogs then getting to know him would be a very good idea before you adopt. It makes them so sad to be taken home and then brought right back here.”

Heart melting in his chest with every word, Izuna swallowed thickly and accepted the fact that he was about to make an utter fool of himself just to clear the sad look on a stranger’s face. With a renewed blush and a clearing of his throat he let his eyes fall to the floor, inspecting the tiny white face staring up at him with eager eyes and a bright pink tongue lolling out. 

“I, ah, I’m not afraid of dogs. You’re just…I was hoping to get to know you. You’re…hot.” Where, he wondered desperately, had his usual silver tongue gone? Not in years had he sounded so awkward.

“Me?”

Kneeling down to pet the dog seemed like a much better way to distract himself than standing there like an idiot and staring off in to space so he did that, nodding as he went down. Fingers scratching at a fluffy white chin, cheeks nearly on fire with embarrassment, he nodded. “I really am interested in adopting though so if we could pretend I didn’t just make a giant idiot of myself that would be wonderful.” 

For a handful of moments there was silence but for the sounds of the animals shifting and barking and growling in their kennels. Nothing like true silence, though it was enough to have him cringing at this uncharacteristic awkwardness. In his thoughts he cursed his landlord for being allergic to cats, unwittingly leading him in to this situation. Would that he had met a man like this on any other day when he would have been able to turn on the charm and win himself at the very least one night to make a more lasting impression. Now the only impression he was leaving would surely be that of a blithering idiot. 

“Maybe you would like to come spend some time with  _ both _ of us?” 

Izuna’s head snapped up so quickly he was surprised the entire thing didn’t snap off and roll on to the floor. 

“Nnngghh?” he gurgled intelligently.

“It’s protocol that staff or a volunteer be in the room the first time a prospective adopter wants to spend time with one of our animals. Ah, I would be very pleased if you got to know both of us.” Somehow the man achieved even higher levels of cute when he broke out in to a shy grin. “My name is Hashirama. It’s very lovely to meet you.” 

“Hashirama. That’s a nice name. I’m Izuna and I have to say, the pleasure is all mine.”

Grateful to have a little of his usual confidence back, Izuna happily accepted the hand that reached out to help him back up. If he maybe shivered a little at just how big the other’s hand was around his own, well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t already made his thoughts clear on that matter. And if he let their touch linger when Hashirama pulled away who could blame him? He’d known the man all of two minutes and already he wanted more. 

When he left two hours later he had a new puppy trotting before him on a leash and a new number saved in his phone that he very much intended to call the next day. In only one conversation he had somehow managed to fall in love – not just with Hashirama, not just with the companion happily wagging his tail, but with the future suddenly spreading itself out before him, unexpected and entirely welcome. 


End file.
